Sherdog.com’s Pound-for-Pound Top 10

If two close wins over Frankie
Edgar had people thinking Benson
Henderson was a placeholder champion, the UFC lightweight
kingpin’s emphatic domination of Nate Diaz on a
major stage may have served up a realization: this guy might be
sticking around for a while.

With two title defenses in the books, Henderson is still looking at
some serious opposition in 2013. A rematch with Anthony
Pettis could be on deck, as well as a much-sought-after
confrontation with Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert
Melendez. However, getting his hand raised against this caliber
of opposition is simply what Henderson has done since the moment he
entered the UFC.

Mark
Bocek, Jim Miller,
Clay
Guida, Frankie Edgar twice and Nate Diaz? The “Smooth” one has
put together one of MMA’s most enviable hit lists in just two
years. Better still, in an MMA moment where fans and media are
calling for what may be pipe dream super fights, Henderson has a
rich lineup of legitimate lightweights with which to tangle in the
near future.

Perhaps Henderson deserves some additional credit, as well: it was
the UFC lightweight champ’s two contentious wins over Edgar that
sent the New Jersey native to 145 pounds after years of discussion.
The ultimate result? A pound-for-pound showdown between Edgar and
fellow Top 10 entrant Jose Aldo on
Super Bowl weekend. Thanks, champ.

Just when it looked like we might not see “The Spider” for a while,
Silva made a surprise appearance at October’s UFC 153. The UFC’s
middleweight ace once again moved up to 205 pounds, this time to
salvage the injury-ravaged Rio de Janeiro card with a makeshift
main event against Stephan
Bonnar. To the surprise of no one, Silva made quick work of the
normally durable veteran and quickly returned to the sideline,
where he figures to stay until mid-2013. While it’s long been
figured that Silva is approaching the end of his career, UFC
President Dana White stated in December that he recently turned
down an eight-fight contract with the company -- and instead asked
for a 10-fight deal.

The welterweight division’s French Canadian king finally came off
the shelf in November after a frustrating 18-month layoff. Showing
no signs of the knee injury which had kept him from the cage, GSP
got right back to his old ways, sweeping interim champ Carlos
Condit in a five-round affair to unify the UFC’s 170-pound
belts. For a moment, Zuffa seemed dead-set on getting St. Pierre
and fellow pound-for-pounder Anderson Silva together for a
mega-fight; now, it seems GSP’s next bout could be a
long-anticipated fight against former Strikeforce titlist Nick Diaz.

It was a turbulent year for Jones, who weathered opponent changes,
angry bosses and a drunk driving arrest, but came out the other
side with his UFC light heavyweight title intact. The latest test
for “Jonny Bones” was a September encounter with Vitor
Belfort, who nearly pulled off a miracle armbar early at UFC
152 but eventually succumbed to a Jones keylock in round four.
Jones will have a little time off before his next defense, but it
won’t be all rest: the 25-year-old is set to coach opposite
Chael
Sonnen on the next season of “The Ultimate Fighter” before the
two meet at UFC 158 in April.

Aldo managed only one fight in 2012, as injuries twice nixed bouts
with Roufusport prospect Erik Koch. The
Brazilian was also forced to withdraw from a UFC featherweight
title defense against Frankie
Edgar in September. In what will be his highest-profile bout to
date, Aldo will now take on former lightweight top dog Edgar on
Feb. 2 in the main event of UFC 156 -- the company’s annual Super
Bowl weekend card in Las Vegas. It is the kind of victory that
could go a long way to making people forget about his recent
inactivity and injury issues.

After claiming and defending the UFC lightweight title in a pair of
hotly contested wins over Frankie Edgar, Henderson left little
doubt in his latest defense. Before an audience of millions on
network TV, Henderson grounded, pounded and ultimately took a
unanimous decision over top contender Nate Diaz. Henderson’s recent
run at 155 pounds has given him one of the strongest records in all
of MMA. Things won’t get any easier in 2013 for the man who
presides over arguably the most talent-rich division in the UFC,
with contenders like Anthony Pettis and Gray
Maynard, not to mention incoming Strikeforce champ Gilbert
Melendez, lining up for a shot at the belt.

Henderson’s unceremonious knee injury at least temporarily put the
brakes on his improbable three-division run past the age of 40.
Despite UFC President Dana White’s recent statements of a slow
recovery, the former Pride Fighting Championships and Strikeforce
titleholder insists he’s healthy and on schedule for a February
return. Henderson may have lost his crack at Jon Jones to
occasional training partner Chael Sonnen, but the Olympian still
believes he’s on target for a high-stakes Feb. 23 date against
former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto
Machida.

Two close losses to fellow pound-for-pound entrant Benson Henderson
are nothing to hang your head about. Edgar still boasts a strong
recent resume against the lightweight division’s aces and is now
bound for 145 pounds. “The Answer” will have a chance to put
another Zuffa title on his mantle in February, along with arguably
the biggest win of his career, as he takes on featherweight ruler
Jose Aldo in a pound-for-pound clash that onlookers have been
calling for consistently over the last two years.

Melendez’s on-again, off-again Strikeforce lightweight title
defense against Pat Healy was
rescheduled for the company’s final show on Jan. 12. One problem:
Melendez’s knee injury still wasn’t healed, forcing him off the
show. However, we now get what the world really craves: Melendez
against Top 10, elite lightweights on a fight-in, fight-out basis.
The Cesar
Gracie product figures to make his Octagon debut in early 2013
and should factor in against the major players at 155 pounds almost
immediately. It’s been a long time coming.

In the wake of Fedor
Emelianenko, everyone is looking for a dominant heavyweight
champion and Brazilian big gun dos Santos could be that fighter. If
he is able to get past the man he defeated for the title a year
ago, Cain
Velasquez, at UFC 155 on Dec. 29, “Cigano” will be well on his
way to cleaning out of the division. From there, a big-money date
with Alistair
Overeem and maybe even a rematch with former victim Fabricio
Werdum in Brazil could mark a lucrative 2013 for the Brazilian.
If he wins his next two or three bouts, we are already talking
about an all-time great in the heavyweight division.

As we begin to wonder what various pound-for-pound greats might
look like fighting a weight class above the one they dominate,
Johnson is becoming one of the few truly successful fighters to
actually fulfill the “drop a weight class and dominate”
expectation. The first UFC 125-pound champ has picked up major wins
over Ian
McCall and Joseph
Benavidez in 2012 and has the chance to up his unbeaten mark as
a flyweight on network television in the New Year. “Mighty Mouse”
makes the first defense of his flyweight title at the UFC on Fox 6
in Chicago against “Ultimate Fighter” winner John
Dodson.